The staff system of the German army has always been praised, and the system of the General Staff formally established by Moltke the Elder is often regarded as the most terrible part of the German armed forces, and the reputation alone is like thunder.

As the center of the German war machine, the General Staff was responsible for studying all aspects of the war, discussing campaign arrangements, drawing up battle plans, and drawing up mobilization plans.

However, due to a number of considerations, the most important of which was to dismantle the influence of the Juncker officer corps, the German Society reorganized the General Staff in a drastic way, separating some of its powers from the same level as it had been in the past.

While the foreign mission was in talks with the German government, Zhou Changfeng and others focused on inspecting the organizational methods of the German People's Army—command, control, communications, and intelligence.

As an important member of the Military Bureau, Li Zhijie thinks that he has studied the establishment method quite thoroughly, but the Germans are still more meticulous and persistent in this regard.

Adhering to the principle of the supremacy of order and the primacy of science, the KPA Establishment Bureau has combined the weapons and equipment in service in the best possible way and has continuously designed new establishments for trial implementation.

Seeing that his peers were so dedicated and rigorous, Li Zhijie couldn't help but feel a little ashamed - compared with the Military System Bureau of the Ministry of War, it did seem quite amateurish and leisurely.

While discussing the technology that was worth introducing, Zhou Changfeng asked the accompanying military workers about the high-performance anti-tank gun.

A senior engineer at the Shenyang Army Artillery Factory had a deep cut in his arm from glass shards during the attack that day, and he received more than a dozen stitches afterwards.

He said disapprehantly: "We got it done more than ten years ago, and there is nothing that can't be done with a large medicine room and a high-pressure and high-speed cannon, but that kind of cannon is too extreme, and it is not cost-effective for the sword to go sideways, unless there is an urgent and extreme need, otherwise it is a waste." ”

"Uh...... Indeed it is. ”

Under the current technical conditions, long-barreled high-pressure guns are expensive to manufacture, have poor barrel life, and the power of the grenade is negatively affected - the wall thickness of the shell increases, the charge decreases.

The engineer added: "Cannons are not a thing, and when it comes to the ability to make cannons, it is up to people to judge, and the Germans usually have heavy guns." ”

Zhou Changfeng originally wanted to introduce a medium-caliber anti-tank gun, but everyone felt that it was meaningless, and the Germans themselves did not have a reliable anti-tank gun that met the requirements.

As for the Pak38 type 50mm anti-tank gun, it is naturally not worth looking at.

There are many categories of technology introduction items proposed by the Ming military delegation, although the Germans said that they would ultimately decide whether to sell or not based on the results of diplomatic negotiations, but the preliminary preparations were still carried out.

The "double plan" is currently the direction of the Daming machinery industry department, one is a high-performance tank engine, the other is a high-performance aero engine.

The former was undertaken by Swift, which simultaneously developed a 400 hp engine for medium tanks and a 550 hp engine for heavy tanks.

For the sake of walking on two legs, the Ministry of War believes that it is valuable to introduce foreign technology at the same time, which may provide inspiration, may have something to learn from, and may be able to respond to emergencies when the company is unable to hand in the answer sheet in time.

For the high-horsepower tank engine required by the Akito, the Germans had three engines on hand that met the requirements.

The first is the designed Maybach HL174, V12 liquid-cooled type, which outputs 450 hp at 3,000 rpm.

The second is the Maybach HL157, a V12 liquid-cooled type that is still under development, and produces 550 hp at 3,600 rpm.

The third is the Maybach HL210, a V12 liquid-cooled type that is still solving minor problems, and outputs 650 hp at 3,000 rpm.

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The most powerful of the HL210 is the Heart of the Tiger – historically used as the engine of the Tiger tank, a compact engine capable of producing 650 hp, enough to propel a heavy tank to a respectable speed.

However, this type of engine belongs to the top technology that they have not yet used, and the Germans do not consider transferring it for reason.

The same is true for the Maybach HL157, and the best things should naturally be kept.

As a result, the existing Maybach HL174 became the only option.

The Germans offered 4.2 million marks, which is equivalent to about 5.5 million yuan, and provided three prototypes and a batch of spare parts, with all the drawings and materials, and Maybach would also send people to provide technical guidance.

This can be said to be a huge amount of money, very expensive, the purchase price of the cutting-edge Type 40 medium tank is only 84,000 yuan, which is equivalent to 65 units.

Everyone is quite dissatisfied with the German lion's big mouth, how can there be such a slaughter?

As soon as Li Zhijie heard this, he dispelled the idea of introducing it, and waved his hand again and again: "The people's fat and people's ointment don't dare to waste it like this, don't buy it, be self-reliant, and believe that Xunjie Company can do it." ”

Chrissy, who stopped beside Zhou, realized that something was wrong and asked several officials at the scene in German.

After exchanging a few words, she turned her head and said, "Sorry, there was a mistake in the notification, but this transaction does not require all payments to be made in money." ”

Zhou Changfeng asked suspiciously: "Don't pay?" ”

Chrissy bowed her head and said, "Ten percent of the payment will be made with precious metals, and the rest will be replaced by scarce resources in our country, but at a slight discount." ”

Discounting refers to lowering the average price of resources so that Germans can get more.

Everyone in the delegation looked at each other, and their eyebrows suddenly became happy.

"Buy, this can really be bought." Li Zhijie whispered to Zhou Changfeng.

The latter smiled and said, "It's worth considering, it seems that you are sincere, hahahaha-"

The scarce resources of the German Society are not only metals such as molybdenum, nickel, and tungsten, but also rubber.

Although the famous Farben invented artificial styrene-butadiene rubber and artificial nitrile butadiene rubber in the thirties, and now they have been put into industrial production, their performance cannot be compared with natural rubber, and it can only be said that there is a problem.

The German approach was to use a blend of artificial rubber and natural rubber to improve performance and reduce the consumption of natural rubber, but in the final analysis, the latter was indispensable.

However, natural rubber is not worth mentioning for the Ming Dynasty, so much that it cannot be used up - the annual consumption is only tens of thousands of tons, while the Nanyang regions can produce more than one million tons every year.

Selling technology is certainly very nourishing, but selling resources is not bad!

It turns out that sitting and collecting money is much more comfortable than working hard to earn a small profit, and there is a world of difference.

After the preliminary determination of the opinion on the tank engine, the two sides then agreed on the intention of the aircraft engine.

As early as the year before last, Daming introduced the technology of DB600 liquid-cooled V12 engine, and the teams of many aircraft companies such as Changyang, Zhongsheng and Shangxing were optimistic about this type of engine at first, but soon made a 360-degree turn, and the opinions became unified - no, this design is not advisable.

The Mercedes-Benz-designed V-shaped liquid-cooled engine features a unique inverted layout, which brings with it a series of unexpected flaws.

When the crankshaft rotates, the lubricating oil will seep into one side of the cylinder, so Mercedes-Benz has to design the compression ratio of the left and right exhaust cylinders differently to improve this situation and prevent knocking, but there are still many troubles, which significantly restricts the power and shortens the life.

It can be said that compared with the mainstream positive V-shape, the inverted V-shape has no advantage at all, and it can be called a hundred harms but only benefits - the pilot's downward vision is better.

It's a bumpy and wrong path.

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It's a pity that the introduction has been introduced, so I can only make do with my nose for the time being. Solve the problem first, and then solve the good and bad problems.

The DB600 liquid-cooled aero engine copied by Hangzhou Zhongsheng Aircraft Co., Ltd. is named Juan Er, with a nominal power of 1,160 horsepower, and uses a self-designed one-stage two-speed supercharger, which has been manufactured about 1,000 units so far.

The Type 36 fighter equipped with this liquid-cooled engine was finalized as the E type, because of the small frontal area and low drag, the E type was faster than the D type (equipped with a 1,200 hp air-cooled star engine), with a top speed of 568 km/h and a maximum range of 1,400 km.

This allowed the Daming Air Force to see long-term development prospects and strengthened the confidence of the upper echelons of the Air Force.

Even if a high-performance fighter with a liquid-cooled engine is difficult to maintain, it is still necessary to install some of them.

After some weighing, the military delegation decided to introduce BMW's BMW-XV liquid-cooled engine, project code 117, this upright V12 engine has a displacement of 38.2 liters, can output a maximum of 1,100 horsepower, and 905 horsepower of continuous operation.

Compared to the DB600, which has congenital malaise, the BMW-117 is considered to have better development potential.

BMW actually has a long history of developing liquid-cooled engines, and in the twenties, their BMW-117 was popular all over the world and was copied by many countries.

However, BMW's products were not favored in history, and the Germans who took the wrong path were obsessed with Mercedes-Benz's inverted V12 liquid-cooled engine, so BMW simply switched to air-cooled radial engines.

Because of the considerable differences from the original plane, the aviation industry of the German Society has developed relatively smoothly, so BMW has not abandoned their liquid-cooled engine project.

The German Society agreed to the deal, and they offered 5.6 million marks, equivalent to about 7.5 million yuan, and the payment method was also 10% precious metals and 90% discounted resources.

The delegation had no objection and immediately made clear the intention to introduce.

"Out of support for enterprises, the government will convert precious metals and half of the resources into market prices and distribute them to corresponding companies." Chrissy explained.

Zhou Changfeng said after signing: "The first two things are determined, and the others can be picked and opened!" ”

Ninety percent of the cost can be deducted with resources, rounding off is not money, and the cost performance is simply not too high.

In the eyes of the Germans, these inferior technologies, which are not called sophisticated, can be exchanged for a lot of gold and silver and a lot of scarce resources, which is really a good deal.

That night, the military mission held a meeting to discuss the equipment that was worth considering next, as well as the long-term plans for the aero engine.

The Germans' aero engines can only be called good at best, and the cutting-edge liquid-cooled aero engines have always been mastered by the British - Rolls-Royce's Merlin and Griffin are super-first-class high-performance engines.

The Ming people collected the wreckage of many downed British Spitfire and Hurricane fighters, and transported the well-preserved Merlin engine back to China for dismantling and research, which was an additional source of technology.

Overall, the next development route for liquid-cooled engines is divided into three lines:

One is the imitation type based on DB600, although it is defective, but it is guaranteed; the second is an imitation based on the BMW-117, which has high hopes; The third is the completely self-developed model of Zhongsheng Company, in view of the lack of experience in this area of Daming, the prospect is unknown.

Zhou Changfeng raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said lightly: "After that, let's do our own thing, and then talk about it when there are results, and hold regular meetings to exchange opinions." ”

Everyone who had gathered together responded, and then dispersed.

Hydrogen peroxide torpedoes, magnetic anomaly detectors, high-power magnetrons, anti-aircraft gun firing commanders...... These are objects that can be considered for reference or the introduction of imitation, and it is undoubtedly quite cost-effective to spend money to accelerate the progress of research and development.

While the military inspection mission was rushing to evaluate the technology, the foreign mission was also constantly holding meetings, negotiating, discussing, and asking for instructions, and was very busy.

The British Empire's wartime cabinet has received a new Future Strategy, and this year's expectations are more pessimistic than last year's.

The German Society's control of the Baku oil fields significantly undermined the confidence of the British upper echelons in the victory of the war, and the assessment showed that the existing strategic bombing efforts could only reduce oil production by 50~60%, and the sufficient oil allowed the German Society's state apparatus to operate at full capacity.

The brutal and objective assessment concluded that there was no shortage of resources in the German Society - even the shortage of resources could be solved through trade with the Ming Dynasty.

The material reality is not transferred by human will, and the British upper class has to pick up the idea of peace again, maybe it is worth considering making peace with the Ming Dynasty?

However, the interests of Britain and the United States are converging for the time being, and if Britain chooses to make unilateral peace with the Ming Dynasty, what will the United States do?

Prime Minister Winston resolutely opposes the voice of "surrender before fighting", and his supporters generally believe that there is hope for the war to be carried out in the end - it is impossible to completely defeat if it stands on the same front with the United States, and as long as it persists to the end, the worst case is only a "small loss" or a "medium loss".

Correspondingly, some people questioned that this was too wishful thinking, how could you pin your hopes on those Yankees?

While the old men of the London Zhengmi flag are arguing, the people are very concerned about the changes that are happening on European soil.

In particular, the most hated figure of the British is in Berlin, which is all the more striking.

These days, major newspapers are vying to report the news of the Ming mission's visit. In order to hype up the hot topic, the newspaper editors all used conspiracy theories to exaggerate the fact that there were unspeakable secret talks between Germany and China, and even claimed that the two would form an unholy alliance.

To his amusement, some newspapers described Zhou as a cunning and cruel demon general, which was outrageous.

Of course, there are also slightly more normal nicknames, such as the Times quoting a U.S. admiral who gave him the nickname "Snake of the Pacific" — which is not very popular.

"Am I that annoying?" Zhou Changfeng, who couldn't cry or laugh, put down the newspaper in his hand.

Xu Hexiang, the leader of the foreign mission and the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, said with a smile: "I'm afraid so." ”

Chrissy, who was brewing black coffee, also raised her eyes and said seriously: "Your enemies must hate you." ”

(End of chapter)